Exhibiting our Dreams: Surrealism and the Museum Exhibition

In my current Master's Program (Humanities), Art history has become my central focus, and because of this I have been studying early 20th century art including my favorite style Surrealism. For those of you who may not be familiar with that style, Salvador Dali (melting clocks) was one of the prominent artist of it. Now the idea I want to discuss involves the integration of the style into gallery and museum exhibitions of their time but also in modern day museums. The Surrealist wanted their gallery and museum space to reflect the art that was being shown, they wanted the dreamlike essence that their work had and also the random objects and textures integrated into the gallery and museum space. An example of this would be the use of mannequins, trees and ready-made art into the open space. They transformed their space to reflect the art they were exhibiting as if the experience itself transgressed beyond the art itself. They invited their audience to explore the elements of surrealism by incorporating a sensual experience that stimulating all senses either at the same time or throughout the exhibit (devices making random noise, unstable floor, spider webs or rope used to brush against the visitors. These artists wanted the experience to be a reflection of their art and to allow the audience to experience it to the point where they will never forget it.

one of the most famous exhibitions was in London on June 14- July 4 1936.

 http://www.luxonline.org.uk/history/1900-1949/the_surrealist_exhibition.html

The link takes you to a history and overview of the exhibit and the highlight from it, (Salvador Dali doing a lecture in a full on deep sea diver suit). The photos from the exhibit show how they fully embraced and integrated their ideas into the exhibit.

The Surrealist were innovative in their ideas in exhibiting work and elevating their open space into a working piece of art that connects to their paintings and sculptures. They also wanted to bring the viewers into their experience and allow them to experience their style of work first hand.

Surrealism is a recognized style today and is still widely celebrated and exhibited in museums across the globe. Just like back in the days when Surrealism was at its height, current exhibitions try to integrate their themes into their museum or gallery space as for example the "Surrealism: Poetry of Dreams' exhibit in Queensland

http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2011/surrealism_the_poetry_of_dreams